State College March for Our Lives Activists Don’t Know Anything About Guns

Like many Americans, I attended one of the nationwide “March for Our Lives” gun control marches. But unlike many Americans, I wasn’t advocating for gun control. I actually love guns, and I love the Second Amendment. But, I went to the March for Our Lives Penn State to just observe, not protest. And, that was all I needed to realize how almost no one marching knew anything about the guns they wanted to ban.

Of course, this couldn’t be a gun control march without throwing race into the intersectional mess. Not only was there a sign that said “white privilege is affecting the gun debate,” but Seun Babalola, a member of the Black Student Union, encouraged the crowd to “take advantage of your white privilege” to advocate for stricter gun control.

There is no inherent privilege with being white. If anything, there is black privilege. Mr. Babalola was standing on one of the many campuses that admits minorities onto campus by discriminating against whites and Asians. So, how about instead of telling the crowd to “take advantage” of their white privilege, why don’t you, Mr. Babalola, acknowledge your black privilege and stop lecturing people on white privilege. Stop injecting race into gun debate.

Seun Babalola, standing with Beryl Bannerman, encouraged civic involvement: "Don't ever regret that you didn't make a change. Don't ever regret that you didn't vote." At the State College #MarchForOurLivespic.twitter.com/ZIdlklps2W

I talked to one girl at the march that had absolutely no clue what she was talking about. She started off by telling me that she didn’t want to ban all guns, she only wanted to ban “handguns and assault-style weapons, because you don’t need those for hunting.”

Well, what guns are left to ban? A handgun ban has already been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. And, depending on her definition of “assault-style weapons,” that could be anything. She implied that an AR-15 could be one of those, because she said nobody hunted with them. She did say regular rifles are fine.

Regardless if people hunt with certain guns or not, that doesn’t mean they should be banned. Also, implying an AR-15 is an “assault-style rifle” is a stretch. It’s a semi-automatic sporting rifle. Saying it’s an “assault-styled rifle” implies the AR-15 is fully automatic, which it isn’t.

This wouldn’t be an anti-Trump, anti-gun rally without all your favorite cringy chants like: “this is what Democracy looks like,” “we will always have the right to feel safe,” and “hey, hey, NRA how many did you kill today?” But, it’s not like not a single mass shooting has been committed by an NRA member. Oh wait, they haven’t.

You’re probably thinking, what didn’t I see at the protest? I didn’t see a single sign calling the Boward County cops outside the Parkland school “cowards.” I didn’t see a single sign calling for Sheriff Israel to be fired. I didn’t see a single sign that said, “the FBI failed and people died.”

All in all, the March for Our Lives made me sad. It was another emotionally charged, uniformed, ignorant, and unproductive liberal march. I would have way more respect for these protestors if they knew what they were talking about, but sadly, they don’t. I rarely say something that harsh, but you’ve already seen the evidence.

Any gun owners reading this piece should take their local gun control Nazi to the shooting range and have them fire a gun. The experience may not turn them into Ted Nugent, but it may at least turn down their hysterical reaction to the big, scary back gun. It’s worth a shot.